


With the Fume of Sighs

by NamelesslyNightlock



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Spoilers, BAMF Tony Stark, Bittersweet Ending, Death, Established Relationship, Feels, Infinity Gauntlet, Loki (Marvel) Feels, Loss, M/M, Not A Fix-It, Self-Sacrifice, Tony Stark Feels, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, Vormir
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-18
Updated: 2019-05-18
Packaged: 2020-03-07 10:43:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,044
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18871591
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NamelesslyNightlock/pseuds/NamelesslyNightlock
Summary: As the Infinity Stones glowed upon his gauntlet and the power rushed through his veins, Tony didn’t hesitate to make that final snap– because he knew that what he needed was waiting for him on the other side.





	With the Fume of Sighs

**Author's Note:**

> I'm... not entirely certain where this came from 
> 
> See the end note for a trigger warning.

Tony already knew what he needed to do, had known before he even saw Strange’s gesture. Of course he knew, he’d _always_ known– there was only one reason why Strange would have handed over the Time Stone the way he did, going against everything he said he would stand for just to save Tony’s life. In the scheme of things, it didn’t make sense—

Not unless Tony was important somehow. Not unless there was something he needed to do, something _crucial_ that no one else could.

He thought that he’d worked it out once before, he thought that he’d discovered the moment Strange had saved him for. It was when he standing atop a cliff on a planet called Vormir– that terrible, awful place, dark and restless with shadows that nipped at his paranoia and set his teeth on edge.

He was right to have felt uneasy.

 _The Stone demands a sacrifice_.

The moment he had heard the rules, Tony had known what he needed to do. He had _known_ that either of them would have worked, but there was only the one option that he could ever accept.

_You must lose that which you love. A soul... for a soul._

Too many people had died for him. Too many that weren’t coming back.

And to avoid adding the person he loved more than anyone to that terrible list… Well, he’d do anything, _everything_ he could.

So he’d raced for the edge of the cliff, trying to get there before he could be caught– but he should have known that he wouldn’t be fast enough, that his lover would catch him around the waist and hold him close with the kind of desperation that echoed in the crack of his voice and the shake of his hands.

_That is never going to happen._

_C’mon, Lokes. We both know who it has to be._

_Yes, my dear one. I think we do._

Tony had fought tooth and nail, had fought with everything he was. When Loki had thrown him to the ground, he’d set his suit on autopilot. FRIDAY was all but screaming, but she couldn’t deny his override– the armour had tackled Loki away from the edge, but before Tony could make it himself he was caught in a web of green magic.

Loki had tried and Tony had tried again, both of them battling for the right to save their love, both of them fighting each other harder than they ever had before, harder even than when they were enemies, because there never had been more of a reason to fight.

Tony had managed to free himself from the magic and had dove for Loki just in time– but he had fallen straight through the illusion, and glanced up in horror to see Loki much too far away, smiling sadly with his toes already so close to the edge that small pieces of rock were clattering down the cliffside, taking an awfully long time to hit the ground.

_Oh, Anthony, my dearest love. Don’t worry about me. You are going to shine brighter than all of them._

Tony had woken in water, cold and alone, the Soul Stone pressed in his palm a paltry prize compared to what he had lost.

He hadn’t even been granted time to grieve– which was probably a good thing, because if he had, he would have broken down. But then Bruce snapped his fingers, and it didn’t matter anymore. They were fighting for their planet, fighting for the universe– but Peter was alive, as was everyone else who had been dusted. So long as Thanos was defeated, they would be fine, they all would. All that needed to be done was to end the fight, so they could all just _go home_ , just like Tony had always wanted.

But… his home was gone, left lying broken at the bottom of a cliff on a planet so very far away, and much too long ago.

Once they’d saved the universe… what would Tony have left?

Getting the Stones off the gauntlet wasn’t difficult, because he’d designed the damn thing. He’d built it while Bruce was perfecting the quantum suits, poking the nanotech into shape. Loki had stood over Tony’s shoulder, arms around his waist, breath brushing Tony’s ear as he whispered suggestions, and lips dotting kisses along Tony’s throat as he worked.

When they had succeeded, Tony had turned in Loki’s arms and pressed a kiss to those lips– sweet at first, but then growing more heated as Loki backed Tony toward his workbench, almost knocking the gauntlet off it as they laughed against each other’s smiles. And high on the feeling of being _alive_ , of having hope for the first time in so long, they had held each other and rode waves of pleasure, revelling in the deep affection between them that would never fade away.

The memory made Tony stiffen– not just with pain, but with _resolve_.

Loki had died to save him, but not _just_ him. Loki had also died to save the _universe_ , because when that was at stake, when every other life hung in the balance, the pair of them were but the smallest of pinpricks in the entire night sky, a grain of sand in the centre of a hurricane. They weren’t as important as the whole of everything else, and Tony _knew what he had to do._

Tony would save the universe, and then…

He could be with the one he loved once more.

 _I am inevitable_.

Tony felt the rush of power, the surge of madness through his veins. He could do anything, be anyone, he could turn the world inside out and do whatever he wished—

But he couldn’t bring back the person who mattered most. Not without risking everyone else.

So with the power of a god and the vengeance of a lover left alone, he stood tall and stared down the creature who had torn everything away.

“And I,” Tony snarled, “am _Iron Man.”_

Then the snap of his fingers echoed through the very fabric of the world, and with a name on his lips and the phantom touch of arms drawing him close and welcoming him back home…

Tony’s pain finally came to a peaceful end.

**Author's Note:**

>  **Trigger warning:**  
>  When he uses the gauntlet, Tony doesn't mind dying, because he wants to see Loki again.


End file.
